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Does "TRON: Legacy" Deliver the Goods? [MOVIE REVIEW]

TRON: Legacy is one of those rare movies that manages to do justice to its source material without being a slave to it. The film carefully and dramatically balances soaring neon landscapes with enough electro riffs and techno-philosophy to keep happy both mainstream audiences and its niche core.

Legacy picks up in 1989, seven years after the original TRON ends. Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a gifted computer programmer, has managed to become CEO of a major software company, ENCOM, after unexpectedly entering and dismantling the company’s computer mainframe from the inside. Having acquired a taste for the digital world, Kevin continues to revisit the mainframe in the hopes of using it to solve and innovate in the name of science. And then he disappears.

The audience is left staring at his 7-year-old son Sam who, 20 years later (played by Garrett Hedlund), holds the majority share of his father’s company. A motorcycle riding recluse, Sam literally lives under a bridge while the current CEO makes quips about shilling consumers on new, annual software without making improvements. Not the dream Kevin had in mind.

All of this feels like a long build-up to the impressive visuals that early trailers have been boasting. Where are the light cycles? The flying orange aircraft? This early exposition reads as just that: necessary but dull exposition, a prelude to what audiences paid to see. Sam thankfully gets sucked into the digital world in search of his father after receiving a serendipitous text from his dad’s old arcade.

This is where the fun starts, and not just because the palette turns to black and neon. The trip to the digital world allows the film to open up both visually and conceptually. In between the truly gorgeous machines, wires, and programs that populate the over-saturated world of TRON are brief ruminations on computer politics and theory.

Actual technology, however, is conspicuously absent. Aside from some brief smartphone hacking and a plethora of touchscreens, "technology" survives as an abstract concept in the film. There is no mention of modern video games or consoles like the PS3 or Xbox and there really isn't any discussion of computers. The film veers, favorably, towards more general but ultimately more interesting themes of technology in absentia.

Anyone who has seen the trailers knows that there is a CGI-ed version of a young Kevin, circa 1989, that interacts with the present-day Kevin (both voiced by Jeff Bridges). Without ruining how this comes about, the movie tackles Asimov-level questions of purpose and logic while also balancing a father-son reunion story.

These elements and some stunning set-piece moments crowd out some of the allegorical elements of the original film where the computer world stood as a proxy for the real-world behaviors and personalities that created it. Instead, TRON: Legacy focuses on how Sam comes to grips with his dad’s long absence, the discovery of a new form of life, played by the naïve but electric Olivia Wilde, and how all three of them can get out of dodge as quickly as possible.

Those set-pieces are mostly what have been selling the film from a PR standpoint, and they are worth every penny. A five-on-five LightCycle battle captures everything you could want from a five-on-five LightCycle battle, complete with neon explosions, criss-crossing bands, and high-speed craftiness. The LightCycle concept is even expanded to a "Light Jet" battle featuring the same, deadly streams of light in mid-air. Although it loses the sense of speed, it shows that Legacy is at least trying to push the theme rather than recycle old tropes just to milk some holiday cash. These high-powered chases and fights help to buy some time and space for scenes of over-acted pain or under-acted tech mumbo-jumbo, like Kevin’s loose explanation of what “Isomorphs” are.

The writing sometimes lands perfectly or completely misfires. Honest scenes like Sam’s first dinner with his dad ditch the highfalutin' for standard dad questions about Sam’s girlfriend, dog and job. It’s a nice counterpoint to the tech themes and pulsing turquoise landscape behind them. Meanwhile, Bridges delivers sharp lines like “Sam, really. You’re messing with my ‘zen’ thing,” in a “dude” meets “dad” way after Sam loses his bike and nearly gets them all killed. This is juxtaposed against Sam’s limp description of the sun, an emotional high point, as “warm, radiant, beautiful.”

The soundtrack, assembled by French electro-stars Daft Punk, is mostly a hit. Their characteristic blips and industrial grind are a great fit for the digital realm. And the soundtrack does fit the mood, punctuating the action when it needs it but given the band’s stature, fame, and lack of an album since 2005, their minimalism might be a little disappointing for fans wanting to hear a new Daft Punk album rather than a film soundtrack.

The film is beautiful, and to see it in motion does the design work more justice than words. The digitally younger version of Bridges, achieved through CGI, is a great approximation of a human but the graphics still look a little gummy and false when contrasted against actual humans. This isn’t a problem in the digital world but it’s a little uncanny in the opening scenes when “young” Kevin is supposed to look as real as his family.

The real visual star is the mainframe world, even if much of the designs and even some of the scenes are faithful — albeit impressive — updates from the original film. Fans might also pick up on some parallel film structures and motifs, but they successfully land on the side of homage rather than laziness. Some scenes were filmed in 3D, allowing the vistas to breathe with added depth. Even the plain-old 2D renditions shimmer and snake with electricity and energy. It is a vibrant world that manages not to subsume the character drama and high-minded (sometimes too much so) tech-philosophy. TRON: Legacy, for all its trappings and stars, is about a son taking his father’s place. That the film can balance this human drama against its pulsing cities and striking colors is a testament to Joseph Kosinski, TRON: Legacy’s skillful director.

TRON: Legacy may not sweep the Oscars but it is a tremendously good time: A beautiful film that offers enough emotion to keep you interested and enough philosophy to actually make you think. The plot has holes, especially if you aren't familiar with the original film (how can Kevin manipulate the mainframe?) and the acting isn’t always perfect, but that version of "perfection" is exactly the point of TRON. Nothing, not even the digital world, can be perfect. This film does, however, serve as a fitting, sometimes remarkable, legacy for TRON fans.

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